Switch celebrated its second birthday recently and Nintendo deserves a lot of credit for delivering a console to suit multiple purposes and lifestyles. Its success as a portable device relies on it being a hard-wearing piece of hardware and – on the whole – it’s a solid, durable bit of kit.

That’s not to say it’s perfect, though. From launch there were Joy-Con connection issues and there are a couple of oversights in the design - why is it even possible to attach Joy-Con the wrong way up? Hairline cracks seen by some owners around the heat vents are concerning, but by far the biggest complaint we’ve got is the infamous Joy-Con ‘drift’ – a phenomenon where hair, dust or debris somehow gets into the analogue stick mechanism causing movement to register without any pressure being applied.

A quick survey of Nintendo Life staff reveals that almost all of us have had problems at one time or another over the last 24 months. Some have sent controllers back to Nintendo for repair, while others resigned themselves to buying new ones (possibly using the faulty sticks as an excuse to pick up some of the more adventurous colours released since launch). While wear-and-tear will take its toll on even the sturdiest hardware, we don’t recall any other Nintendo hardware failing so rapidly. All-in-all, a bit shoddy, no?

While some games enable you to alter dead zones and work around the problem, most titles don’t which makes most games unplayable, unless you’re a sucker for watching Link repeatedly jog off cliff edges. New Switch owners are covered by the one-year manufacturer’s warranty but sending controllers back to Nintendo is a pain in the backside, especially if you don’t have another controller to tide you over while it’s at the repair shop.

If the problem crops up outside of that guarantee period – which is more likely anyway – replacing Joy-Con is a pricey prospect and infuriating, too, when only the stick is malfunctioning. Unwilling to fork out £40 for a dull grey replacement, the more industrious amongst us got down to a little DIY and found success with a variety of solutions (plus the odd failure, but we’ll get to that).

This guide should get you back on track if drift is getting you down (or just irritatingly to the left or right). These options increase in severity and we’ve provided a list of the necessary tools and items you’ll need for each solution. Following these steps will hopefully mean you can spend that money on a new game rather than a duplicate controller.

A word of warning

Disclaimer time! We recommend opening up your Joy-Con only as a last resort. Doing so will likely invalidate your warranty (assuming you still have one) and we obviously can’t take responsibility if you snap ribbons or strip the heads off screws.

That said, it’s a lump of plastic and electrical components, not Pandora’s Box; it’s really not as scary as you may think and you’ve got nothing to lose if you’re outside the guarantee period. While there are various tiny screws and clasps to negotiate – and it’s essential to take your time and have the correct tools at hand – you shouldn’t have too many problems doing all but the last solution on our list.

Let’s get cracking!

Solution 1: Update Firmware and Recalibrate

What You’ll Need:

Your Switch

An internet connection

Okay, we hate to be Captain Obvious, but you don’t want to jump to conclusions and open up your precious controllers if you can avoid it; the first thing to try is a good old-fashioned turn-it-off-and-on-again, then make sure the firmware is up-to-date and try recalibrating the sticks.

Head into System Settings from the main menu and scroll down the left menu to Controllers and Sensors.

2. Scroll down the right menu to Update Controllers – press this to download the latest firmware, just in case.

3. Next, scroll to Calibrate Control Sticks and give that a press. Follow the onscreen instructions to click the stick you wish to calibrate. The left one causes the most problems in-game, but we’ve had drift on both.

4. If your stick is working perfectly, you should see a green cross dead centre in the crosshair. Otherwise, a green circle will be hovering to one side – press ‘X’ to recalibrate.

5. The following screens instruct you to push in the cardinal directions and release, although this can be challenging if the drift is so severe that the circle doesn’t return to the centre. Persevere and it should register – you can always cancel out with ‘B’.

6. Finally rotate the stick several times, as instructed.

If your Joy-Con is now fully-functional, well done - you’ve saved yourself a lot of bother. However, if it’s still playing up, continue to the next stage…

Gavin loves a bit of couch co-op, especially when he gets to delegate roles, bark instructions and give much-appreciated performance feedback at the end. He lives in Spain (the plain-y bit where the rain mainly falls) and his love for Banjo-Kazooie borders on the unhealthy.

A bit shoddy?? The switch... no. A few isolated complaints online. I’ve not seen crazy numbers saying they have had the cracking. The joy cons have had as many issues as the other major players have had with their controllers...

Both of mine have been drifting for a loooong time now. The right only slightly so for the longest time while the left got flat out unusable... then I bought a replacement and now the right is rapidly getting just as bad. Did a replay of Odyssey recently and was having very frequent issues toward the end of the camera constantly spinning in circles. Made certain parts ridiculously hard.

My left joycon had the drifting issue and the shell was cracking, so i bought the parts and switched it out. It cost me $15 for shells for both Joycons and the replacement stick, and as long as you pay attention which screws go where, the whole process wasn't too bad. I would recommend checking for anything else you might want to fix and do it all in one go.

I found fixing the d-pad on the pro controller more finicky to be honest.

Yup my left stick started drifting upwards, bought some new ones and ordered new replacment stick from amazon (only £7), mainly because I needed some anyways for some friends coming round for Mariokart night.

I did solution 2 from the video. It’s a short term fix but it works. You can buy replacement sticks from amazon for 7 pounds. Since I play the switch nearly always docked I just use the pro controller. The pro controller really is great and it’s better than the Wii u pro controller in your hands

Get a can of compressed air and blow in and around the base of the analog stick. I didn't even need the can to "fix" my Pro Controller. Just blew into it a few times, same way I used to blow in those NES carts to get 'em working again.

Yeah joy-con drift is a major problem, at least for me. I’ve had the problem 3 times in 2 years. Both my joy-cons went to went to Nintendo and they fixed both for free cause it was still under warranty. But now my left one is doing it again. I’ve done the cleaning, and it still does it. I think I’ll have to replace the stick itself. I got a new set (I wanted some new colors anyway), so when I feel brave enough, I’ll open it up and give it a shot. It’s worth trying to fix it, cause man, it’s just so annoying.

I've had my left joycon drift up a couple times since I bought it over a year ago. All I did was take a clean toothbrush and lightly scrub the ball while rotating the stick in every direction. Immediate fix both times.

No issue with Joy Cons here, just the Splatoon Pro Controller - I'm on my third one, all replaced FOC by Nintendo UK as they were under warranty. Had huge issues getting them to actually sort it and admit they lost the paperwork to prove it was within the warranty period. All bought through the Nintendo UK Store too!

May try the toothbrush or electic contact cleaner route. Been using compressed air, but that doesn't seem to have helped completely (though it does help some). I appreciate the replacement guide for the stick. Anyone know if these after-market sticks work better or do they also have the drift issue after time?

It's typicically dust that causes drifting due to the open design at the base of the stick. I've blown them out multiple times to fix it (feels like the N64 days). Unfortunately it always comes back. If the sticks had the ball design at the base like the GameCube and pro controller, this problem wouldn't be so rampant. I have 4 Joycon and all of them have developed this problem. Nintendo needs to addresss this with a hardware fix for future Joycon. Otherwise I'm hesitant to buy anymore.

My issue hasn't been drifting, more that when I push the stick right on my left joy con it doesn't always register properly but believe it stems from the same issue. Just blown under the little rubber fold and works as a temporary fix.

I too have had this issue, in both Joy-Cons. It was a slight problem in the left one, but the right one was pretty much unusable. After attempting (and failing) the other methods of recalibrating and cleaning, I ultimately did the nuclear option and replaced the control sticks.

Sadly, though, I did strip one of the screw heads, and to get it out, I had to use a Dremel tool to cut into the corner of the casing, and then twist it apart. So there's a rather deep gash in the corner of one of my Joy-Cons.

Even more sad, though, is that I have to go back in and fiddle with some of the buttons, as they somehow got moved while I was replacing the control sticks.

For now, though, I am playing my Switch using a Pro Controller, which I bought as an alternative when this drifting issue popped up (or I should say, got worse).

My left joy con controller drifts bad. It loves to shoot up all the time, and makes playing games like Stardew Valley a living nightmare.

I've tried the "use a can of air to blow out dust" trick suggested all over the Internet, and it doesn't do jack to help lol. The calibration trick also does not fix it.

I ordered one of the tri wing screwdrivers off of Amazon, so I can take it apart and work on it. That should show up this weekend, so we will see if I can clean it out from the inside.

I'm not so much upset that the joy cons end up having issues, but what does annoy me is the sheer cost of the joy cons themselves. It wouldn't be that big of a problem if I could buy an official joy con for $20 or $25 dollars. I would just buy a new one when one goes bad if that was the case.

The fact that the joy cons are so insanely expensive is why it bothers me that they go bad rather quickly. A controller that expensive should last longer, and not be so easily jacked up by .... dust.

i think i have the blutooth issue that a piece of foam fixes or whatever. if i ever really care to play on the tv i'll just get a pro controller anyway. the included dock thing is fine but not comfortable enough for long term use imo.

This article was so on time. I have the drift issue as my left joycon drifts upward. Drives me nuts cause I thought for the longest it was a bluetooth communication issue, and it's really been getting in the way of me playing with people. I've been all through step one, re-calibrating, re-calibrating, re-calibrating, turning off the Switch, and updating controllers (Even returning them to factory settings, which "seemed" to work, then same old issues). I really didn't want to spend the time sending it in to Nintendo for a fix as even though I have a pro controller, I will be forced to play my Switch docked until the joycon comes back. Plus my whole "send package-receive package" situation is a little wonky at the moment. Is compressed air a solution in any way?

I had drift on my right joy con, replaced the stick with cheap one from amazon and no issues so far. I did end up breaking one of the ribbon cables inside for the leds but will replace that at a later date .

Compared to every other Nintendo controller these Joy-Con are really prone to get messed up one way or another, quite soon after normal use, especially the analog sticks.

It's the sole reason I don't buy many Switch games (local multiplayer games are an automatic skip at this point). I have to save up for new controllers all the time (and it's not fun to play new games with a controller that moves on its own after just a couple of months).

In my opinion, Nintendo should make a Joy-Con revision! Also, they should be blocked from selling more of the current faulty version. It's not too much to ask for a 80€ controller that can handle at least 5 years of gaming, but the Joy-Con don't even work for 1 year.

Been having left drift on some extra joy-con I bought last year. I've tried all the fixes that don't involve opening it up except for contact cleaner. I will try that and then if it doesn't work just order replacement sticks and attempt it myself. My bf is pretty handy so I might just coerce him into it.

I absolutely agree. Even just one replacement joycon is 50 bucks, so you’re almost better to just get a set of cool colors instead. And I get that things go bad over time, but dust should not wreak these so quickly, and even having to clean them like this is kinda ridiculous for the price that they are.

@Stocksy Gotta love the fanboys who use terms like "isolated complaints" and will defend Nintendo to the death. There's been a substantial amount of people complaining about the hardware so don't pretend it's not an issue. As someone who's owned pretty much every Nintendo console to date, I can say the Switch IS shoddy as hell.

Just want to comment that I've experienced drift recently on a left joy con, and also near the launch of Switch. Joy con are great and I love them, but they also aren't up to the standard of quality I expect from Nintendo products.

@Fabicom the ole fan boy comment. You know someone has a flimsy arguement when you go there. I like Nintendo, also like Sony and Xbox... I’ve owned every Xbox, Every Sony machine including all their handhelds and I haven’t owned every Nintendo.....

The amount of consoles they have shipped in first two years the % of issues seen on line is tiny but people are yelling loud and making it more than it is.

I look after my console and I’ve had no issues. Same as all my hardware. No console is perfect but to suggest switch is shoddy??? Cmon.

I’d have accepted that the joy cons aren’t as robust as they could be.... but shoddy? Not it the right hands

@Stocksy if you're so against people mentioning fanboys you really shouldn't reciprocate with the "it's not happening to me" argument and it's worse cousin the "you should take care of your stuff" one.

A word of warning, I did the contact cleaner solution a few days ago, and while the sticks now work fine, I've been having trouble with some of the buttons. The ZL, -, and Home button don't want to respond when pressed every time. Not sure the exact reason, but I'm trying to clean them out again and see if it helps.

@Yorumi it is and it was intentional. I stand by that describing the switch hardware as shoddy is way OTT.

An article about Joy cons and how they have way more issues than they should - I’m on board with.... they clearly have issues... to lump it all in and call the whole console shoddy is a massive stretch

I've been getting this on both joycons. I can get it to go away (it lasted a few days) but it's came back. Interestingly they have both just run out of charge for the first time in 16 months. I'm thinking perhaps it's charge related.

I would like to add I must have had over 1000 hours use with these joycons and only just had the problem. If I had to replace them I think I've had my moneys worth. Nothing lasts forever.

If this comes down to a hardware defect regardless in warranty or out of warranty they should replace it. Buyers expect a working hardware should get it replaced at cost to Nintendo to make a wrong a right. If they want good PR admitting fault and replacing would go along way to show good faith to their FanBase and buying consumers.

I got one of my left Joy-Con's stick changed, and now it works wonderful. But I have to say, it took a year for my left Joy-Con to drift, I can't say the same for the new pair I got after, they started to drift as soon as 6 months later after I purchased them. I'm going to get them fixed as well.

Wow, NL, this is the most in depth, useful, fantastic article you guys have cranked out, possibly ever! Fantastic work, with iFixit levels of detail for a Nintendo specific problem. This is a milestone day for NL!

Also, big kudos to Nintendo for a pot module with a clip-in ribbon connector?! That's not a cheap way to do this part. Normally the analogs are just surface mounted and soldered down. Replacing XBox or DualShock sticks requires re-soldering it, not just plugging a new one in.

@Stocksy I don't think it's shoddy, this is probably the highest quality minature bi-directional clickable pot on the market for them to have used....but....there's no denying that the minature bi-directional clickable pot, even if it's the best there is, isn't the most reliable device in the world. Not Nintendo's fault, but the drift problems with the part are pretty rampant,. and the tiny internal parts are just going to be that way. It's a lot more excusable on a mini XY Pot than on a full sized one like the XBox sticks that infamously drift.

Mine started drifting shortly before I got Smash. It is sad that they have started to fail already so soon, but at least we have options to fix it. Will try the tutorial to see if contact cleaner is enough, otherwise I will have to check aliexpress for a new set of joysticks. Thanks for explaining it so well!

Very good article. I did number 4 to my right joycon a few months ago and now it work like new.Just WARNING, make sure dont touch anything before remove the battery, if you touch the wrong place with a metallic tool, that may cause to blow one fuse and the battery will stop working. So the first and most important step is like the article says, removing the battery. I had this issue while trying to fix it and had to weld to bridge the blown fuse (it was very difficult because this fuse is soooo tiny). Summarizing first step , remove the battery then whatever you want.

@Stocksy The joycons are crap. I've sent each side away twice for repair for drift, and the only person playing the system is me, carefully, as a 40 year old man who knows how to treat his hardware. There is simply no way you can make me believe this is isolated.

I've been looking at videos to fix the joy con drift for the past few months. Already spent $80 ($30 plus $10 shipping) to send in my joy cons for repair 3 different times and I wasn't going for #4.

In the end I just bought a pair of yellow joy cons on sale at Target with a 2-year extended warranty to be safe (still less than $80) and now still working up the courage to go nuclear option 3 with the blue ones.

@NEStalgia I'm not sure you can entirely rule out shoddy work. Lets not forget how much crap the wifi antenna is in the switch, the bluetooth receiver seems kind of weak too. The d-pad on the pro controller sucks. Then there's the warping issues. Finally we have the bricked systems that resulted from nintendo not following the usb-c standard.

Taken alone each individual thing could be excused but all put together it does kind of show a pattern. They don't really seem to be all that concerned with quality on this system.

@Yorumi Just looking at the internals in these pictures, there's nothing shoddy about the Joycon. On the contrary they took the superior, more expensive route to most things that almost no other consumer electronics would use. That doesn't mean there may not be design gaffes, but if there weren't it wasn't due to cutting any costs, but just legit design oversights (or output problems at Foxconn, which would be shoddiness but not from Nintendo's design.) The design itself is top notch.

The Pro controller is a separate product (an accessory.) First run was bad....I have a sneaking suspicion that was a Foxconn problem. The sticks fell apart badly, the d-pad wasn't gated properly, it was a mess. Nintendo's been designing d-pads for almost 40 years, and I strongly doubt they didn't gate it right in the design. Have you tried a newer pro controller? The D-pad feels right after that first batch. Yes, it should have been recalled, yes, that's a Nintendo fail. But not a design fail.

The warping thing....no comment....that was such an odd phenomenon. The bricking...yeah, USB-C should have been standard, but to be fair to Nintedo, they designed the Switch implementation before the standard was even finalized. It's not uncommon for first gen interfaces, especially with USB's various (bad) iterations and design-by-politics history to not meet standard. Same for SATA and PCI Express. I'd rather they stuck with convention, but since they pre-date the convention, and that kind of issue is common with new interfaces....I can't point big fingers at Nintendo on that. Plus, that aspect was probably nVidia, and if you've ever used a nForce board, you know nVidia's history with standardless new interfaces......

The warping thing aside (I still believe that's a transport issue mixed with battery issues), and Pro controller is a separate product with a bad first run, in terms of Switch specifically, we're talking a pre-standard bus implementation, and the Joycon issues. The antenna placement/gain may be an issue by design or assmbly (or FCC/TUV concession), and the pots seem failure/dirt prone, but that's nothing on the design, it's a part purchased sealed and whole, it's just installed on the board.

I mean, really, we have pictures on this thread, if you can look at that and call that shoddy design, you should crack open some of your other electronics and see what industry standard looks like...

Lol, it can't be that bad can it? I mean, to me the drifting gets immediately canceled out when I move the stick. That's probably why I noticed it so late in Smash, you are always on the move in that game.

The only other Nintendo controller (or buttons) I ever had malfunctioning, was the N64 analog stick that didn't respond before being pushed over halfway up (which made running in quite a few games impossible, therefore rendering the games unplayable), and the up direction of the original GBA D-pad, together with its R button, that no longer functioned unless I pressed it hard enough to have an impression of it in my fingers.
Now I have six joy-con, two of which have a defect in the joy-stick-clicky-button ("L3" on PS), and two have had occasional drifting issues.
edit: I have (had) countless Nintendo systems and controllers, from all generations (only never had a Virtual Boy or any 2DS), because I used to collect Nintendo stuff like a lunatic, and had a 16 player LAN Gamecube set-up. Oh and I must add, the New 3DS analog nipple thing is BAD. Is it still considered malfunctioning if it was never very functional to begin with?

@NEStalgia Oh I've got a good d-pad it's called a 8bitdo SN30pro and M30, lol.

The thing with foxconn is I sort of put that on Nintendo, or at least partly on Nintendo. I do think consumers bear a bit of responsibility for that. Prior to the wii I believe it was all Nintendo products were manufactured in Japan. Those products all work, and any issues that have popped up tend to be caused by heavy use over 20-30 years. For example n64 sticks have started wearing out from heavy use, though it's easily replaced. There's also a difference between wearing out in 20 years and wearing out after 2. There are even jokes about how indestructible Nintendo products were.

Well they moved production to China, and foxconn. As soon as they did, while not crippling we started seeing an uptick in issues with build quality. The reason I partially blame Nintendo is they picked the factory when they had a perfectly workable one. I put some blame on the consumer because well we want cheap electronics and here they are.

I mean you know me, overall I'm happy with my switch, and I'm not sure I'd want to pay more, but I do look at these things and it is a touch annoying. $80 controllers should just be some of the most ergonomic, high quality, amazing controllers ever.

@MrBlacky I don't know what caused it, I'm just pointing it did happen.

Recently shipped mine to Nintendo (for the third time) & just when I thought things couldn't get much worse, get a mail from them today saying they've just my Switch for repair but may not to be able to get it back to me for 4 weeks! due to their annual stock take currently taking place.. something tells me I'm just not meant to own a Switch.

@Yorumi I'm not sure it's as simple as that. Japan went through much of the same hollowing out of their manufacturing and industrial infrastructure we did in the 90's and '00s. The problem with producing at home is much of the supply chain isn't actually there anymore. The factory you contract for fab may have close, or moved to China, probably buckled under the weight of competing against Foxconn (which, you can't compete with slavery...it's always the most economical option) and even if the fab is still there, the components manufacturers are all gone and in China. We have the same problem here. Even if you WANTED to build electronics here, you either can't, or you need to charge 3x the price for a boutique item. As a result only particularly high end things or specialty manufacturer things tend to be made in "first world" countries. And Nintendo gear is mass market.

That's far bigger than a Nintendo/Foxconn thing. That's a "the entire first world sold out their future, economic stability, and manufacturing self sufficiency to China in exchange for 10-20 years of below cost goods and now we're permanently, completely effed until the next world war fixes it, assuming anyone is left to notice.)

Japan being Japan, I suspect most Japanese companies strongly prefer to build there if it's actually economically feasible. It's just that it isn't. Foxconn is the Amazon/Walmart of manufacturing. They devour all in their path. Although technically they are Taiwanese, not Chinese.....whether or not you believe that's the same thing depends on your stance on One China.

@NEStalgia yeah I know there's always complexity there. There's been plenty of stupidity from the governments on down. I don't know japan's situation but the US is still capable of manufacturing, at least for now. Overall quality has dropped since they moved there so I think there is something to be said for those who think the work is a bit shoddy.

@Yorumi US and Japan can still manufacture, but at higher cost, with longer turnaround times, and is thus reserved for higher end and more specialty product (or product where IP rights are important.....) And the output is heavily compromised in volume.

Quality dropped since Foxconn took over (surprise surprise), but some of that is also that no company can afford to build products at mass market prices designed to last 30 years (overbuilt.) Plus investors (read: banks, fund management firms, etc) evaluating every line item for every fraction of a penny spent not yielding at least 4x returns.)

Unfortunately it's a different world that 20 years ago, and no part of that difference is positive.

@Henmii It is that bad. BotW becomes almost unplayable, as a common strategy is to stand on the very edge of something and drop bombs on difficult to fight enemies. One false move screws that completely.

@Stocksy By Nintendo standards, it's definitely shoddy. If you haven't had these issues, good for you. But I've owned every Nintendo console including the Virtual Boy, and the Switch is the first one where I've had major control issues (both joy cons and pro controller), and I know quite a few people that have had the same issues.

I agree that sometimes internet people blow up these issues way out of proportion, but in the case of the Switch controllers there's definitely multiple real issues, either due to poor design or bad construction. And the fact that the controllers are so expensive only makes it worse.

@NEStalgia there are some positives. Given how quickly electronics need to be replaced it's nice they're cheaper. The biggest problem is it's nearly impossible to actually buy high end electronics anymore.

The switch joycon problem is very real. Compared to previous Nintendo controllers I'm sorry but it is shoddy. I have a pro controller and that is fine but I am not even confident that buying new joycons would even solve the problem so I won't buy replacements at such high prices unless I know the issue is really fixed.

I was going to get on here and ask how wide spread this issue really is, then I saw the lengthy comments section. I’ve had my newest switch and had the left drift but it was fixed by simply power cycling the console. I should note that I had 3 controllers paired at the time which is really 5 devices. A pro controller and 2 joy con sets. Makes me worry some, just redesign it Nintendo. Or release a “new improved”Joy con you can sell if you can’t admit there’s a problem.

@Yorumi Worse, even where you can, trying is self defeating since it's just as likely to break as the cheap stuff, but unlike in the past when you just take it to the repair shop across the street, now you have to ship it to a service center either on the other side of the country, or in some other country.

I've had issues with 3 joycons so far but have never had issues with any other gamepad for any other system. I thought it was my friends who were screwing things up here but I'm thankful for the video and will try it out.

@Stocksy Are you implying that everyone that has had this problem is not careful with their Switch then? Just because it hasn't happened to you, it doesn't mean the problem is not there. You've got a really lousy argument. "Fanboyism" at its best. Next.

@nab1 This is precisely my point. Compared to other Nintendo consoles, the Switch is not that great. There's a substantial amount of people reporting the issues too, so there's no way these are "isolated cases".

I had my left one start drifting just after the warranty expired, but Nintendo repaired it for $20. Then shortly thereafter the right one developed the same issue. Since it's not as noticeable in games, I let it go. I finally bought a new set this weekend. Hope they last.

I just want to add more info to this subject. I recently had a brand new joy con drift. Link kept running for a few seconds after I'd let go of the left joy con joystick. It happened in Kindgom new lands also. It makes me wonder if there could be wireless interference, or if the processor is lagging in processing joy con data coming in.

@Fabicom "Are you implying that everyone that has had this problem is not careful with their Switch then? Just because it hasn't happened to you, it doesn't mean the problem is not there. You've got a really lousy argument. "Fanboyism" at its best. Next."

Actually some where fault of the user if that was so true then this hardware would be failing left and right but sadly your point didn't make any credibitably settings. To say "substantial" is at best Trolling.

@Fabicom "This is precisely my point. Compared to other Nintendo consoles, the Switch is not that great. There's a substantial amount of people reporting the issues too, so there's no way these are "isolated cases"."

Your point has no point. The sales figures already show your decision is more or less failure at best. Those cases were not supported those were more or less anecdotal but had no way to verify them as well. So before you say something you can't backup with verified data as to the real problem or lack of problem caused by the user.

I had to send the left joy-con to Nintendo last summer because of this and the fact that it was too easily removed from the console. They fixed it.

But a few weeks ago the drifting problem happened again, Sega Ages menus browsing upwards all the time warned me, and tried to clean it without any result. And then tried the firmware update and recalibration, the one method they always tell you just because they have to... And it worked!

@shaneoh I did this, but the problem returned shortly after. Not saying this is the case always, but I did end up doing the recalibrate option for a drifting right joystick that hasn't become a problem again in the past nine months. So it is nice to have these options that weren't there it seems even a year ago when I originally sent it in for repair.

@SwitchForce Sales figures means nothing. The Xbox 360, for example, sold well, and it was plagued with the ring of death. The WiiU flopped big time, but had much better WiFi compared to the Switch... If you use your joy cons a lot they will eventually start drifting - this is a fact. Just look at the comment section. Saying those cases were anecdotal, or that they were "isolated" is typical of a blind fanboy who has run out of clever arguments and has nothing relevant to add to the discussion. Go learn about Nintendo hardware before you talk to me again.

I have this happening on both JC but what’s worse is that I waited 3 weeks for an official external company which operates under Nintendo and they did NOT repair them.
I came back at home and 30 minutes after there was drifting. Luckily in Europe we get 2 years of warranty so I will be sending them again until it’s fixed. I REFUSE buying new JoyCon.

@jobvd i got one as well(only the left joy-con), but it only drifts when on a menu part of something or to a corner in pokemon quest and stops drifting when i tap my joy con on something. just a small tap, about as much impact as it gets when its put into the side of the switch. i didn't have this issue until i started playing lets go eevee and it hasn't really bothered me all that much so i've been putting off going about fixing it

Both my joycons and the right analog stick on my pro controller have this problem, as well as all four of one of my friend’s joycons. I literally have to blow on my pro controller every few minutes or so or it starts drifting again. I’ve been collecting video game systems for over 20 years and only this and the Atari 5200 controller seem to go bad so easily from normal play. I have no idea how Nintendo managed to drop the ball so hard here compared to every other controller they’ve ever made.

I bought a third party Switch controller that looks and feels almost like an Xbox One pad and I've been meaning to calibrate it. Hard to explain but I noticed that the analog sticks were off while playing Minecraft with my daughter. I doubt that recalibrating will fix the issue but I'm hopeful.

I have not had any issues so far. I would be curious to see a purchase date mapped against failures to see if it was primarily early adopters or some other reason. I can see the rails becoming a problem because they seem too loose but so far no issue there either. I did purchase an extended warranty so I have almost another year left.

I've never had the drift issue, but 2 of my 4 joycons have recently developed issues with the tiny shoulder buttons. Means i cant use them in sideways mode as i can't even sync them to the switch like that.

Swapped out my left stick today using the top rated part on Amazon UK. Much easier than I thought it was going to be. Used this guide. Recommend it to anyone out of the warranty to give this ago and save a few pennies.

Just sent both of mine back. I got an email back a week later saying it would cost £29 to fix my left joy-con and the problem was due to Operating system problem. Then the next day I got another email about the right joy-con. Same problem, same £29! £58! I rang Nintendo UK up to say what exactly is wrong as operating system does not sound like something I have done. They said in actuality it was the analogue stick needed replacing and something like the circuit board was damaged.

I said that I could buy a new set for this price but they said it was the price of repair or we can send it back. I said send them back unprepared. I will now try your cleaning/repair methods. If I totally break them I can just buy some new ones and not be out of pocket.